York Painting – There and Back Again

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Mel Hendy

I think this might be finished...! I could go on prodding it with bits of paint forever, but sometimes you just need to step away and call it done. Some of these places and features have changed over the years since I took the photos which I used as reference for this painting, but this is York how it was, and still is in most cases. I have been there and back again many times and will never tire of the city. Acrylic on A1 canvas board. To be framed and hung in the lounge where I w...

Cakes, Tits, Fudge, Beaches

Posted on March 18, 2019 by Mel Hendy

And that is how I spend my weekend 😊 So I’m painting every chance I get at the moment coz I have a bazillion ideas for things to paint. I’ve done a few more cupcakes to make them a series – you can check these out in the Acrylics section. I’ve been inspired by the local art group to try different techniques and painting subjects I wouldn’t normally choose. I really loved looking at work by artist Rob Walker, whose vibrant art perfectly captures rural life ...

York – The Neverending Painting

Posted on March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 by Mel Hendy

The view from City Screen (top) and the Fudge Kitchen panels are pretty much finished now. The end is slowly crawling into view. I need to tidy up the sky, put detail on the stonework around each panel then complete the Minster, Bootham Bar, Lendal Bridge, Ouse Bridge, finish off Lendal Cellar, blah blah blah. But it's coming together nicely and I still feel this will be finished in the summer. Next update, I will post a full photo of the painting and hopefully it will look slightly...

Painting Challenge – Boats

Posted on February 22, 2019February 1, 2025 by Mel Hendy

'Sharicmar' at Polperro Acrylic on canvas board, measures 35.5cm x 25cm. £25 This is the boat (top one) used in the film 'Saving Grace' which I absolutely love. I was massively excited to see the boat just sitting in the harbour when we went to Polperro a couple of years ago and took lots of photos like a big touristy film-nerd. The art club which I recently joined runs a painting challenge each month so this is my first ever entry and first attempt at painting boats. (Actually, no...

York Painting

Posted on February 3, 2019February 3, 2019 by Mel Hendy

A number of these panels are now finished but a few still need completion along with all the walls in between. Back in July 2017, I said I would put up some before-and-after pictures on the assumption it wouldn't take quite so long to get to that stage, but I can do that with some of the images now, so here they are... More to follow over the next few weeks...

Back to the Future…

Posted on February 3, 2019February 3, 2019 by Mel Hendy

Wave (Acrylic with glitter!) Having taken about a year off painting, during which I have sadly failed to win the lottery or sell a painting for five million pounds so that I can give up work and do something more rewarding with my life, I have resumed my quest and returned to the York painting which I will complete this year without fail. I'm now on Instagram - mellyhendy_art - and joined a local art group full of extremely talented amateur painters. It's exciting to see so many differen...

Take A Bottle…

Posted on June 10, 2018 by Mel Hendy

... Shake it up... Ah, who doesn't love a bit of classic Def Leppard? So I've been doing something different lately. No, it's not spelunking, it's painting with a beer bottle and a jar which once contained baby pears in Amaretto, but not for very long. I just had one of those moments where I was inspired to try something quite different and found it to be enormous fun and rather therapeutic. Not really my style (or is it?) but I'm really enjoying doing these and it's good to be trying...

York Painting – What Lies Beneath

Posted on May 6, 2018 by Mel Hendy

Probably about seventeen layers of paint. Might not look massively different so here are the bits that are now potentially finished: the pork pie, the wall above it, the Snickleway Inn sign, both stone staircases inside the wall, the signs for the Guy Fawkes Inn and the Kings Arms, the ice cream, the rose, the York emblem and the Viking horn. I'm still working on the Minster and currently focussing on the view from City Screen (bottom left). I've also been working on other paint...

York Painting – A Tale of One City

Posted on January 21, 2018January 21, 2018 by Mel Hendy

Most definitely, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; most of the time I've been pleased with how this is going but there are still times when I wonder how on earth I thought it would be possible to paint bits of this city and do it justice. It's getting there slowly as I'm now building up the detail on everything. I'm tackling the Minster whenever I feel brave enough and have worked on Clifford's Tower, Lendal Cellar and The Shambles as well as a few ot...

My Big Fat York Painting

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Mel Hendy

A friend recently asked if this was finished yet and I gather they are now out of intensive care and doing well. Only I get to use the 'f' word about my paintings (and sometimes during painting). But when is a painting ever actually finished? I guess if you never stopped working on a painting it would eventually end up looking like a Jackson Pollock but this one is a long way off from when I will call it done. Main changes are the detail on Ye Olde Starre Inn, Fudge Kitchen, Bootham ...